WordPress 5.0 “broke” our sites. But not really…

Yes, after WordPress 5.0 Gutenberg was installed, we did find editing pages and posts rather challenging. The platform is amazing if you are launching a brand new website or blog. However, for those of us who have fully developed or fully cooked websites using an existing designed theme complete with plugins, widgets and more…. you found yourself Gutted. 🙂 LOL!

But have no fear.

One plugin. Fixes. It all.

We installed Disable Gutenberg.

LINK: https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-gutenberg/

Jeff Starr, thank you!! YOU ROCK!! https://twitter.com/perishable

This plugin disables the new Gutenberg Editor (aka Block Editor) and replaces it with the Classic Editor. You can disable Gutenberg completely, or selectively disable for posts, pages, roles, post types, and theme templates. Plus you can hide the Gutenberg nag, menu item, and more!

MORE? READ BELOW!

How to install ‘Disable Gutenberg’

STEP 1: Go to Plugins and hit ADD NEW

STEP 2: Type in Disable Gutenberg in far right corner!

STEP 3: Navigate to the first choice !!! Like below! and hit INSTALL NOW!

STEP 4: Be patient and know you are so close to solution.

STEP 5: Hit ACTIVATE as soon as it appears!

STEP 6: Once you see the Plugin Activated … go back to your page or post and hit Refresh and you’ll see you are in business!

STEP 7: Get coffee, breath and know you’ve been saved by Jeff Starr and the WordPress open source community.

That’s it.

Seriously.

Feel free to read rest of page is if you are interested to know more.

MORE INFORMATION:

The all-in-one, COMPLETE solution for handling Gutenberg.
Hide ALL traces of Gutenberg and replace with the Classic Editor.
Restores the original Edit Post screen (TinyMCE, meta boxes, et al).

The Disable Gutenberg plugin restores the classic (original) WordPress editor and the “Edit Post” screen. So you can continue using plugins and theme functions that extend the Classic Editor. Supports awesome features like Meta Boxes, Quicktags, Custom Fields, and everything else the Classic Editor can do.

Does not “expire” in 2022!

Easy to Use

Just activate and done! The default plugin settings are configured to hide all traces of the Gutenberg Block Editor, and fully restore the original Classic Editor. Further options for customizing when/where Gutenberg is enabled are available in the plugin settings.

Options

Disable Gutenberg completely (all post types)

Disable Gutenberg for any post type

Disable Gutenberg for any user role

Disable Gutenberg for any theme template

Disable Gutenberg for any post/page IDs

Disable Gutenberg admin notice (nag)

Option to hide the plugin menu item

Option to hide the Gutenberg plugin menu item (settings link)

Adds “Classic Editor” link to each post on the Posts screen

Adds item to the WP sidebar menu: “Add New (Classic)”

NEW! Option to enable Custom Fields Meta Box for ACF

NEW! Choose which editor to use for each post

NEW! Whitelist any post title, slug, or ID

Works same way as Classic Editor plugin, but can do a LOT more!
Lightweight and super fast, built with the WP API

Disable Gutenberg is developed by Jeff Starr, 13-year WordPress developer, book author, and support guru.

Super light & fast plugin, super easy on server resources!

Why?

Gutenberg is a useful editor but sometimes you want to disable it for specific posts, pages, user roles, post types, or theme templates. Disable Gutenberg enables you to disable Gutenberg and replace it with the Classic Editor wherever you want. For example, lots of WordPress users already enjoy robust page-building functionality via one of the many great plugins like Composer or Elementor. So many options, no need to feel “locked in” to using Gutenberg!

The Disable Gutenberg plugin is targeted at everyone who is not ready for the major changes brought by Gutenberg. Install Disable Gutenberg NOW to be ready for when Gutenberg is finally merged into core and released to the public (likely in WP 5.0). That way, your users and clients will experience the same awesome UX as before

GDPR

This plugin does not collect any user data. So it does not do anything to make your site less compliant with GDPR. I have done my best to ensure that this plugin is 100% GDPR compliant, but I’m not a lawyer so can’t guarantee anything. To determine if your site is GDPR compliant, please consult an attorney.

Great article: https://digwp.com/2018/04/how-to-disable-gutenberg/
Want to develop in Gutenberg?
https://docs.classicpress.net/installing-classicpress/#migrate-classicpress

I’m always looking for tools to help my start-up clients and entrepreneurs. I’m certainly not new to doing domain searches and looking up social media handles (i.e. going to Facebook to see if the new desired company name already exists as a Company Facebook fanpage or if someone grabbed the custom URL – facebook.com/companyname).I recently was introduced to HappyName.com, and am QUITE HAPPY about.HappyName.com makes searching easy. It checks for

TRANSFER AWAY FROM REGISTER.COM

For those that need help with transferring their website domain from Register.com to GoDaddy, here’s the link to a how-to page on GoDaddy.com…. conveniently copied here for your convenience.
https://www.godaddy.com/help/transfer-away-from-registercom-8033

Before you can transfer your domain name registered with Register.com to us, you need to prepare your domain name so it will successfully complete the transfer process. You must make sure of the following before you begin:

The domain name has been registered at Register.com for at least 60 days.

The domain name contact information has not been changed within 60 days.

Once you ensure that the domain is eligible for transfer, you must follow the basic steps for preparing a domain for transfer before you can begin the process with us:

Step in the Process

Reason

Disable privacy settings

If your domain has Private Registration, a service that hides your personal information from the public, you will not be able to confirm your admin email address in the Whois database. Contact your current registrar to disable the private registration.

Confirm administrative contact info

As part of the transfer process, GoDaddy emails the Administrative Contact at the address listed in the Whois database. This email contains the Transaction ID, Security Code, and instructions that are used to approve the transfer.

Unlock domain

By default, most domains are locked to prevent unauthorized transfers. Before a transfer is requested, the lock must be removed and the status verified as “Off.”

Obtain authorization code

Get an authorization code (also known as an EPP code or transfer key) from your current registrar.

Disable privacy settings

As with most registries, you will need to contact Register.com directly for assistance removing privacy.

Once you’ve completed these basic steps at Register.com, you’ll need to shift your attention over to GoDaddy to complete the process by purchasing a domain name transfer and authorizing the transfer to us.

Purchase Domain Name Transfer

You must purchase a domain name transfer from our website. We send an email message to the domain name’s administrative contact after you purchase the transfer. The email contains the transfer IDs (transaction ID and security code) you’ll need to authorize the transfer in to your account with us.

NOTE: If the extension you want to transfer is not listed, you cannot transfer the domain name to us.

When you purchase the transfer, select one of the following nameserver options:

Keep the existing nameservers — If you have a hosted website for your domain name (with us or another company), select this option to ensure that your site does not go down during the transfer.

Change … to park nameservers — If you have an email account with us for the domain name, are using our Off-site DNS, or if you’ve created a Premium DNS transfer template prior to the transfer, select this option. For more information, see Managing Domain Names with Off-site DNS and.

Authorize Domain Name Transfer to Us

In the Transaction ID and Security Code fields, enter the transfer IDs we sent to the administrative contact’s (admin) email address, and then click Add.

NOTE: If you did not receive transfer IDs, click Resend Transfer IDs.

Do one of the following:

Select the Basic tab, and then enter the Authorization Code from the current registrar (if applicable) in the field next to your domain name.

Select the Bulk tab, and then enter one domain name and its authorization code per line. Separate each domain name from its authorization code with a comma, space, or tab.

Select I authorize the transfer…, and then click Finish.

Click OK.

NOTE: For most domain name extensions, a transfer between registrars takes five to seven days from the time you authorize it. The process and time required for transfer completion can vary for certain extensions, such as country-code top-level domain names (ccTLDs). For more information, see About ccTLDs (Country-Code Domain Names), and then click the Help article for your extension.

Yes, it happens.

For starters, you don’t cry and you certainly don’t ignore it. Don’t get angry (well, it’s actually a source to channel some great Spartan workouts, but that’s another discussion). You can do this. We’re either going to RECOVER ourselves or we’re going to hire someone to do it. The more you know what’s involved the less overwhelming it will be (on the other side of FEAR is knowledge). 🙂

Time-to-recovery depends on extent of damage and technical skill of administrator

Two options:

Do it yourself

Get help from specialists

STEP 2: BUILD TEAM OR DO YOURSELF

Do you have skills and are doing yourself? Follow the below. Otherwise, do get yourself a good professional recommendation from your network. We’re happy to help walk you through the steps for a nominal fee.

STEP 3: THE PRODUCTION LIST

1. Contact Hosting Company to determine shared server is secure with infection or if its just you who is toast. If yes, request change server. If you have money, go to shared virtual server which attracts more serious clients. If you have even more money, get a dedicated server!

2. Log into Google Webmaster Tools launched (specialists know how to do) – will be using tools to review and fix search

3. Assess the Damage and Identify the Vulnerability.

Compare WordPress code to the original source (hidden malware pops out as a big ugly difference)

Compare theme code to the original source

Remove any malware found

4. Clean and Maintain your site

Update WordPress to the latest version. Doing this ensures that there are no security loopholes, which I’m sure there was!

WORDPRESS MAINTENANCE & UPGRADES

For over 10 years, we’ve been developing, managing, updating and moderating WordPress-based websites. One thing we’ve learned along the way, similar to ANY website and ANY content management system, keeping the foundation integrity solid requires minimal, but constant digital TLC = aka love, care and maintenance (like any relationship!).

In today’s digital age where security and data integrity are critical to ALL (from the one wo(man) show to the Fortune 100), we all desire to NOT be hacked, to NOT have downtime, to MAINTAIN our website integrity, to ENSURE security… to give you and your staff peace of mind!!!

Here’s a quick and dirty list of things we do as part of our one-off or monthly retainers!

WORDPRESS MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST

Website Backups

Back-up core files using BackUpBuddy or BackUpWPPro that make your website work!
(can also backup WordPress natively via FTP as well as backup the MySQL database via your
hosting account’s cPanel or PhpMyAdmin)

File/database backups – auto performed once per weekly (min)

Backups stored offsite (Amazon S3)

Restore from backup once every 3-4 months to ensure backups valid;
this ensures that if/WHEN the site gets hacked, we’ll get up and running FAST!

IPHONE EMAIL SET-UP {UPDATED 06/09/18}

We initially set-up this page to help our clients save valuable time and money hiring IT professionals for things that can be self-taught. This page gets a ton of traffic and we realize that many people out there stumble on this still need help.

Below is the latest that GoDaddy provides and is extremely helpful. If you have older devices, feel free to scroll further down to the 2013 version!

If you are a start-up or have an entrepreneurial side-project
on a shoe-string budget and you do need help with things of
this nature, do let us know and we’ll figure out assistancefrom a distance for a small fee. 🙂

iPhone: Set up email

You can set up and use Workspace Email on your Apple mobile devices, including iPhone or iPad.

Before you start, you need to know your POP or IMAP Email Server Settings and ports. To find them, go to the Email Setup Center and write down the information that displays under Email Server Settings, including both the incoming and outgoing server settings.